Sunday 25 February 2018
Making China Great Again-2: Where Are the Workers?
Where are the workers? Communnique 2 from Marc Young, TorontotheBetter's correspondent in Shanghai, China - Feb.22,2018]
What first
struck me about east-coast, urban China was the general gleam of things.
Shanghai looks rich. I am not referring to my glimpse of this or that wealthy
businessman or well-connected cadre out on the town in an especially flashy
car, engaging in stunning acts of consumption – although such sights can be
had. I am talking about general prosperity. For the westerner not initially
sure of what to expect, this part of China, at least, impresses right away with
its first-rate public transportation systems, shining skyline and ubiquitous
shopping, dining, cultural and sporting opportunities. The material well-being
of its citizenry is obvious.
In other words, to deny that the
country's enormous development over the past forty or so years has had strong
egalitarian impulses and results is to lie. When Deng Xiaoping and the Party
implemented market reforms and declared, all those years ago, that some
individuals and regions in China would have to get rich first so that others
could get rich later, they were not, I suggest, being cynical. Or kidding. This
was obviously a serious program.
Today, comparative strolls through
the streets of downtown Toronto and Shanghai reveal far more desperate,
homeless, and poorly clothed individuals in one place than in the other. And
the city with more visibly destitute men and women ain't the Asian one! Nor is
it true that panhandlers are seemingly scarcer in Chinese cities simply because
the police move them on, though this may sometimes happen. Those that I have
seen have not been shy in advertising their need, nor have they felt obliged to
quickly abandon their spot on the pavement.
By this I don't mean that the
Chinese Communist Party has built a bank of social services that is the envy of
the First World. Indeed, some of the causes of less extreme poverty in urban
China are conservative ones: specifically, the extended family remains strong
and offers a significant safety net for individuals who otherwise would hit the
ground. Certainly it is not difficult to also find grim hostel accommodations
often serving migrants who come to Shanghai (and other urban centres) in search
of work. And of course readers may know about recent mass expulsions of mostly
migrant labourers from overcrowded tenements in Beijing after fire broke out
there. Yet scenes so common to forgotten, downtown neighbourhoods of North
America and Africa of idle men (and fewer women), hopeless and visibly angry,
are not to be found. Or I have not found them. Shanghai's urban poor are
working, most of them. They are too occupied to loiter. In the “visual
impressions test,” the commercial and financial capital of
socialism-with-Chinese characteristics does pretty well against polite, rich,
and often heartless Toronto the Good.
But here's my segue. Employment does
not necessarily mean contentment, as we all know. A living standard higher than
one's parents does not necessarily produce bliss. And on this front, the
official rhetoric of Party and State about “harmonious” socioeconomic development
in China runs up against the reality of a population increasingly willing to
express its displeasure, when displeasure it feels. And the Chinese workplace
can be a generator of discontent.
Though available statistics are
almost certainly not 100 per cent accurate, data from organizations that
monitor labour issues in the country suggest that work stoppages and
work-related protests have been increasing since well-publicized industrial
actions rocked Honda facilities in Guangdong province some eight years ago. In
both 2015 and 2016, for example, the number of documented strikes across the
country reportedly approached 3,000. In 2014 there had taken place an epic
struggle involving over 50,000 workers in various shoe factories at Yue Yuan
Industrial Holdings, a Taiwanese employer, in Dongguan, as workers took to the
streets to protest company failure to make legally required contributions to
the social insurance fund. In the same year in Guangzhou some 2,500 workers at
Lide Shoes also struck following a relocation announcement by the employer –
and reported attempts to force workers to sign poorer contracts. 2015 saw 5,000
workers at Stella Shoe Co. leave the factory over company failure to make
housing fund payments; this also occurred in Dongguan.
According to China Business Review,
by 2016 the incidents of unrest in the retail and service sectors were
overtaking those in manufacturing. Strikes at Walmart outlets were noteworthy
as the retail giant sought to impose draconian scheduling 'flexibility'
measures on workers accustomed to steady shifts of sensibly limited duration.
My own direct exploration of labour relations
and practices in Shanghai have, out of a very small sample, revealed employers
who fail to pay workers for months at a time due to declared cash-flow issues
and others who effectively ignore obligations to consult before introducing
significant changes in the workplace. So what's exceptional about that, one
might ask? Employers that don't abide by laws that are supposed to govern their
behaviour? Not only in China, of course.
But what is the government's
response to social tensions across sectors and regions? Its priority can be
summed up in the official affection for the term “harmonious development,” as
mentioned above. Communist officials know perfectly well that their development
strategy cannot proceed without episodes of class friction. Although Beijing
wants to shift the axis of its economy from low wage manufacturing to high
value-added, tech-driven production and services, such a transition cannot be
achieved overnight. Nor, as those in the west well know, does this model bring
high wages for all – except in its fictional form. 'Mature' information and
service-driven economies of course provide high-paying salaries to numerous
highly-trained experts and technicians – while they leave many toiling in
poorly remunerated clothing store, fast food and hospitality/tourism positions.
Or plain unemployed.
Party and government officials are
too smart to think that workers will be “harmonious” simply if they hear enough
propaganda. What those who govern would like is for discontent to be nipped in
the bud and channelled by a somewhat more effective All China Federation of
Trade Unions, the country's only legal labour body. Laws to encourage
collective agreements are on the books. Legally speaking, if the majority of
workers in a workplace express a desire to open negotiations, an employer is
generally obliged to engage. Many in the Communist Party, high and low, would
be delighted if the ACFTU were to acquire a greater knack for funnelling shop
and office-floor frustration into negotiations that produced collective
agreements and averted unrest. The State has declared its desire that 90 per
cent of the workforce be unionized.
But workers have little confidence
in a “labour organization” notable for not acting in their interests. In my own
brief, first-hand experience of Chinese industrial relations, I have dared to
suggest to colleagues that they raise an issue with our labour union. My status
as a naive foreigner is the only reason they deign to offer me a patient reply
as to why this would be time wasted. But sometimes they also say that Chinese
workers are obedient and reluctant to make a fuss. This is not really true. Or
often not true.
Meanwhile, the Party shows no sign
of wanting to relinquish control over its “labour movement.” For now, this
seems to be a case of wanting to keep a cake and eat it too. Beijing's
preference is to make the ACFTU a more credible voice for workers and keep
it under Party tutelage, so that correct policy can be preached and things
don't get out of hand. As they did in a country with a famous shipyard called
Gdansk.
We will see how things go.
Labels: China, Making China Great Again, unemployment, workers
